Middle East, Airstrike | featured news

Shouting condemnation and promises of retaliation, Syria, Iran and Hezbollah condemned Israel's decision to send warplanes into Syria, calling its airstrike a day before "inhuman" and "barbaric."

Israeli warplanes responded to rocket fire from Gaza on Monday by launching airstrikes, in a flare-up that began Sunday when Israel fired missiles against two suspected members of jihadist groups.

The top commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan offered a somber apology on Friday in an eastern province where officials say 18 civilians — half of them children — were killed in a coalition airstrike this week.

The second highest al-Qaida leader in Afghanistan was killed in a weekend airstrike in the country's volatile east near the border with Pakistan, NATO-led forces said on Tuesday.

Thousands gathered outside the American Consulate in Karachi on Sunday to protest against a NATO cross-border air attack that killed 24 Pakistani troops.

An airstrike on Sunday killed those believed responsible for downing a Chinook helicopter, a commander said.